“A UK court recently ruled that Microsoft's SkyDrive name infringed on a trademark owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), and the software maker has agreed to change the name of its cloud-based service worldwide as a result…

I’m curious if Microsoft will it take this opportunity of change to showcase it’s quietly developing “cloud os”? (available at www.skydrive.com)

Back in August 2012 I suggested that Skydrive is really becoming a free “Cloud OS”, and perhaps the most underrated and unmarketed cloud OS by a major vendor. The interesting thing is that while the individual products in Microsoft's consumer web service offering have names (Outlook.com, Skydrive, OfficeWebApps, etc) there really is no name for the overarching service as a whole which could really be described as the Microsoft Windows Cloud Desktop.

Skype audio and Video Calling in the browser (click here for more details)

There are some ways we could say the service is not a complete OS

No configurable Start Menu/Desktop

No Ability to Install Additional Apps

Other?

So will Microsoft take this opportunity to give the “Skydrive suite of products” an identity as the cloud OS it really is? Say, “Windows Cloud Home Edition” bundled with WindowsDrive? We’ll see what develops.

Invite additional participants to an existing conversation or conference

Rejoin an ongoing conference after you left it

Control attendee participation by muting or removing them if needed

Transfer your calls to another phone-number or another contact

Pick-up your conversations from the point you ended them

Option to clear your entire conversation history

With Lync 2013 mobile rapidly getting feature parity (plus Instant Message, Meeting Join, video) with many dedicated DECT/Wifi portable phones, does this spell the beginning of the end of the relevance of portable phones in Lync environments? At one time costly controller based WIFI was prohibitive, but with extremely affordable WIFI now supporting zero-handoff what stands in the way? For ruggedization an iPhone combined with Otterbox case is a solution many are already familiar and comfortable with. Unified mobile device management using already familiar tools like SCCM and Intune will also make this route look appealing over learning a new device management tool for a specific vendor. (thanks for nudging me with this pointhttps://twitter.com/UriBrown1@UriBrown1) Up until now standing up DECT technology involved more than just registering an endpoint device to Lync, why not use the mobility infrastructure already configured for standard mobile devices?

So to summarize some of the benefits of consumer mobile phones over dedicated portable phones

All the features of traditional portable phones plus Presence, IM, Video, Meeting Join

Ruggedization via well tested Otterbox cases

Familiar & unified device management via Intune/SCCM

Use server infrastructure already setup for mobility

Zero handoff WIFI dropping in price

Custom apps for handheld device using familiar SDK

QWERTY & advanced keyboards

Many device

What are some challenges to using a consumer mobile phone?

iOS devices without carrier data may have a problem waking the device via WIFI

Currently there are still some features not in the mobile edition of Lync 2013:

Currently Lync 2013 records in active speaker format just like Lync 2010. Currently if you want to do a gallery view format recording you’ll have to be creative. (and a little experimental) Below are my quick steps:

Fair Disclosure: I’ve been given a free copy of this book :) and I’m a super fan of Sonus Lync Certified Gateways. :)

I’ve been meaning to download and read “Lync Enterprise Voice for Dummies” for a little while and finally did. What is in it? Here is a quick summary of chapters from my “speed read” of book:

What is UC - Chapter 1

Why Lync? - Chapter 2

Value of SIP Trunks - Chapter 3

What is and When to use a SBA? Chapter 4

What is and when to use SBC? chapter 5

Ten Reasons to Choose Sonus... Chapter 6 (Grin)

If you are wanting a quick introduction to Lync and a high level look at Lync Voice, this book is it. It also gives overview answers to questions like What is UC , should we use SIP trunks, What are SBC’s and how does Lync keep my voice resilient at a high level then go get this free book.

In a way it seem like a whitepaper (and pure marketing in Chapter 6? :) with the appeal of a “for Dummies” book. (very interesting) But it does cover the subjects mentioned well from a Lync and Sonus perspective. It’s free so get a copy.

In May 2013 we reported that several Lync qualified vendors (Snom, Polycom, Audiocodes) started mentioning future “enhanced better together support over ethernet” functionality. At the Microsoft World Wide Partner 2013 both snom and Polycom demonstrated this functionality. Interestingly snom is calling this functionality “Enhanced Better Together” (or EBT) and Polycom is calling it “Better Together over Ethernet (or BToE).

The remaining question I’m hearing from Lync consultants, admins and partners: How will the Lync Client to IP pairing process work? This is a very valid question as the usability at scale and ongoing manageability of this feature will be key to its successful implementation. (There are Lync Call Via IP Phone apps already. See Call Via Phone and Click Here)

UPDATE 9/6/2013: Polycom Has Just Released a Detailed Step by Step How Their BToE Will Work:

After seeing the Lync audio devices screenshots (above) from the snom & polycom Enhanced Better Together over Ethernet demo’s at WPC13, I highly suspected a USB to Ethernet driver was the piece bridging Lync and the IP phones. A conversation with a Polycom UC architect Adam Jacobs verified that at this time “all vendors will require a client side USB to Ethernet handler…that is a USB to Ethernet HID driver and this will come as an [installer] package.”

Update 7/15/13: @snom notes: “A piece of SW will be on the PC, may be a Lync client extension or a separate add-on.”

I would comment that using a USB to Ethernet driver is a very good move which means that Lync Qualified devices with “Enhanced Better Together over Ethernet” from a Lync user interface perspective will work very similar to existing Better Together integration to Lync.

How will a specific IP phone be paired with the Lync client?

In the Polycom solution “the IP phone is automatically located via the integrated switch by the Lync client”. This seems to indicated that using the languague “tethered” may still be accurate when talking about better together over ethernet.

It does bring up some questions and thoughts:

Does this mean that only the Lync client on the PC plugged into the phone integrated switch *can* connect to that phone? (or is there some manual override?)

What ramifications does this hold for virtualized desktops?

It does seem that integrated switch has jumped up a notch in importance and getting 1GB could be more important. (VVX 3xx and 4xx has both GB and 100MB models)

for Polycom the PC Port will bind this phone to the Lync Client.

Below is a great video with Adam Jacobs, Polycom UC Architect and fellow Lync MVP, demonstrating the provisioning and tether pair process.

[NOTE: No input from snom on this functionality at this time.]

Will My Lync SDK Customizations Work With EBToE?

I haven’t tested this new functionality yet, but from my own usage of the Lync SDK (Lync client sdk) and the fact that EBToE is using a device driver (just like all previous Lync audio devices) I think we can safely extrapolate that your Lync SDK apps will work with enhanced better together over Ethernet.

There could be cases where a Lync Qualified device does not support (or does not yet support) some feature that the Lync SDK supports. This is already the case with the Lync Phone Edition “Aries” device: It does not support (the LPE “Areies” hardware" does not support) the ability to “safe transfer” and so if you request a “safe transfer” via the Lync SDK it will fallback to doing a normal transfer. I would expect we could expect possible similar “limitations” with EBToE devices.

In Summary

a USB to Ethernet HID driver connects Lync client and IP phones with this feature

This has been demonstrated to work on bother Lync 2010 and Lync 2013

This means Better Together over Ethernet should work like USB Better Together from UI perspective

Application utilizing Lync Client API Should work with Better Together over Ethernet

Administrator work: Install USB-Ethernet Handler package

(for Polycom at least) Just plug your PC into the Phone PC Port for pairing

Microsoft has done a big reorganization of teams. What has happening in the area of UC? It appears that Qi Lu is now the head of “Application and Services Engineering Group” which includes app and services in “communication”. From this it looks like Qi Lu is the new head of all things Skype and Lync.

The memo notes that Qi Lu will take over a new “Application and Services Engineering Group” and oversee Office and Skype.

“Applications and Services Engineering Group. Qi Lu will lead broad applications and services core technologies in productivity, communication, search and other information categories.”

Tony Bates has been assigned to “Business Development and Evangelism Group”:

“Business Development and Evangelism Group. Tony Bates will focus on key partnerships especially our innovation partners (OEMs, silicon vendors, key developers, Yahoo, Nokia, etc.) and our broad work on evangelism and developer outreach. DPE, Corporate Strategy and the business development efforts formerly in the BGs will become part of this new group. OEM will remain in SMSG with Kevin Turner with a dotted line to Tony who will work closely with Nick Parker on key OEM relationships.

Was glad to chat with Paul Jamieson on the World Wide Partner Conference expo floor and get a demo of the coming “enhanced better together” (better together functionality over IP). I’ve reported before that various manufacturers are mentioning “enhanced better together” in brochures and websites, but it appears snom is the first to demo this feature. (NOTE: At this time there is no indication Lync Phone Edition devices will get this functionality, vendors have only mentioned EBT related to Lync Qualified devices).

snom estimates end of year 2013 availability for this feature.

Better Together Functionality Deliver Over IP

The snom “Enhanced Better Together” (aka/being called EBT by snom folks) is enabled over TCP/IP without any USB cable between the snom desk phone and computer running the Lync client. The control and interaction of the snom 760 and Lync client was similar to what you would expect from a Lync Phone Edition device and the follow features were demo’d to me:

There appears to be no special user interface plug-ins in the Lync client to control the snom phone, just standard Lync experience. Also the control is bi-directional just like on Lync Phone Edition. For example: You can place or take a call on/off Hold from either snom phone or Lync client and it is reflected on the other endpoint.

Can Audio Calls Be Bumped Up to a Video Call?

On LPE devices if you start a video while making a call from the phone, the phone will switch to acting like a USB audio device for the video coming from the PC attatched. snom did not demonstrated how, or if, this works with snom EBT.

How to Pair the Phone and Lync Client?

The snom personnel demonstrating EBT did not have technical details of how EBT works, although they did show that the snom phone was included in the Lync Devices in the Lync client just like Lync Phone Edition, headsets, etc as shown below. When I asked what the initial “pairing” experience would be like it was noted that in the final product it will be “plug and play and no extra software”.

Which Versions Of Lync Client and snom Firmware Will Be Required?

According to snom folks both Lync 2010 and Lync 2013 client for Windows will support EBT. According to snom PR a new snom firmware will enable EBT but it does not communicate any version numbers at this time. A snom spokesman noted that the 8xx and 7xx series are slated to support EBT.

Summary

While I have not yet seen the pairing process, what I have seen seems to be implemented quite nicely from a UI perspective. It is interesting to see the snom UC Edition devices getting features not available for Lync Phone Edition devices. (Actually a quite highly requested feature: click here) Enhanced Better Together will add quite a bit of value to existing snom device installations and I suspect will bring snom to the table when previously only Lync Phone Edition devices were able to fill this requirement.

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If you want to watch the demo (in spite of expo restricted bandwidth :-) you are welcome to below:

Lync Server 2013 CU July 2013 has been released. It looks like it will be a combination of fixes and some interesting upgrades. Since the Microsoft update pages do not give detailed list of new features we plan to add them below as we note them.

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About Me

Matthew M. Landis has various industry certifications: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Microsoft Certified Database Administrator, Microsoft Office Certified Expert, Microsoft Certified Dynamics, Network+ and A+.
In 1995 Matt started Landis Computer which has been providing IT services to small businesses for 14 years and is now a 11 person Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Matt has over 14 years of field experience implementing Windows Server, Microsoft & Dynamics ERP solutions in small business environments.
Matt is very active in the Windows based IP PBX community: He was a 3CX Valued Professional from 2008-2010 and has co-authored a book on Windows communication software "3CX IP PBX Tutorial". He is pbxnsip Certified, he has contributed thousands of posts to the 3CX community forum and he writes the monthly Windows PBX Report e-newsletter for VARS and administrators. His company, Landis Computer, was the first company in the USA to be designated a 3CX Premium Partner.
When not working and when a chance affords Matt likes to travel internationally with his wife Rosalyn and is very involved in his church.